IMF set to get $400 bn for crisis fund

Britain's top finance official says the International Monetary Fund will exceed $400 billion in its drive to significantly bolster its resources to deal with the European debt crisis and other financial emergencies.

British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne says he expects total pledges will surpass the $400 billion target set by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. That amount would more than double the resources the IMF has available to make new loans to troubled nations. Osborne said Britain was committing around $15 billion.

The effort to increase IMF resources was a key agenda item as finance officials of the Group of 20 major countries convened in Washington on Friday for talks that were part of the spring meetings of the IMF and its sister lending agency, the World Bank.